Asosa is one of the three Zones in Benishangul-Gumuz Region of Ethiopia. This Zone was named after the Asosa Sultanate, which had approximately the same boundaries. Asosa is bordered on the south by the Mao-Komo special woreda, on the west by Sudan, and on the northeast by the Kamashi. The largest town in this zone is Asosa. Its highest point is Mount Bambasi, located in the woreda of the same name.
The area Asosa occupies came under Ethiopian control in 1898, when Emperor Menelik II skillfully exploied the traditional rivalry of the three local rulers, Sheikh Hojele al-Hassan of Asosa, Sheikh Mahmud of Komosha and Sheikh Abd al-Rahman Hojele of Bela-Shangul proper. When Ethiopia and the British administration of Sudan demarcated their common border in 1902, this finalized their annexation.
Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), this Zone has a total population of 310,822, of whom 158,932 are men and 151,890 women. 39,957 or 12.86% of population are urban inhabitants. A total of 72,879 households were counted in this Zone, which results in an average of 4.27 persons to a household, and 69,378 housing units. The four largest ethnic groups reported in the Asosa Zone were the Berta (59.95%), the Amhara (23.86%), the Oromo (10.31%), and the Tigrayans (1.5%), 1.48% of the population was from Sudan; all other ethnic groups made up 2.9% of the population. Main languages are the Berta (59.31%), Amharic (25.7%), Oromo (10.68%), and Tigrinya (1.07%). The majority of the inhabitants were Muslim, with 74.08% of the population reporting that they held that belief, while 16.51% practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, and 8.57% were Protestant.
Asosa is a town in western Ethiopia and the capital of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region (or kilil) of Ethiopia. Located in the Asosa Zone, this town has a latitude and longitude of 10°04′N 34°31′E / 10.067°N 34.517°E / 10.067; 34.517, with an elevation of 1570 meters.
This town has an airport with a 6398 × 152 ft (1950 × 46 m) paved runway. The airport's IATA code is HASO, and its ICAO code is HASO.
A Belgian force from the Congo captured Asosa 11 March 1941, destroying the Italian 10th Brigade and capturing 1,500 men.
During the Ethiopian Civil War, with help from the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) captured Asosa from the Derg in early January 1990, and held the city for a brief time. During the occupation, In response the government airforce subjected Asosa to aerial attacks several times that month, killing 19 people and wounding 20. Before the OLF withdrew from Asosa, it destroyed the town's only electricity generator, stole 1.8 million Birr from the bank, most of which were deposits from the local farmer cooperatives, and took any valuable items its troops could carry.
Asosa is one of the 20 woredas in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Asosa Zone, it is bordered by Kormuk and Komesha in the north, by Menge in the northeast, by Oda Buldigilu in the east, by Bambasi in the southeast, by Mao-Komo special woreda in the south and by Sudan in the west. This Woreda is named after its largest settlement, Asosa. Rivers include the Yabus and its tributary the Buldidine. One of the highest points in Asosa is Mount Bange.
Construction of two health clinics in Asosa woreda was announced 9 March 2009, at a cost of almost 2 million Birr, which would over 40,000 people. These would join one hospital, and 27 health stations or health posts which were currently providing service to over 87,000 inhabitants. Woreda officials announced that UNICEF had donated medical equipment and refrigerators worth over 2.6 million Birr to equip these clinics.
In February 2009, the Ethiopian Roads Authority announced that they had awarded a 502.8 million Birr contract to upgrade and repair the 100-kilometer-long road linking Asosa to Kurmuk in Sudan. The work would be done by Sino-Hydro International, a Chinese construction company. The project is expected to start later in 2009 and take 36 months to complete. It is the last section of the highway which connects Addis Ababa, Nekemte, Asosa, and Kurmuk. The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, the Saudi Fund for Development, and the Ethiopian government will finance the project.